Pessary



Jun@ 22, ma

T. YOUNG 2,443,943

PESSARY Filed Aug. ze, 1945 ffy A INVENTOR. 5 Thomas You/7g BY a@ Qta/'Dfw Patented June 22, 1948 sTATEs PATENT oFFicE rEssAar Thomas Young, New York, N. Y., assignor to Durex Products, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 28, 1945, Serial No. 613,131

14 claims. (ci. 12s- 127) inserts within a closed coil spring ring and vul canizing the rubber to the spring. With the ends of the inserts disconnected at opposite sides thereof, the rim of the pessary may be folded in half to facilitate its insertion into the vagina. In this Hay construction no special provision is made for insuring that the wire inserts maintain their distance apart during the manufacture of the iinished article and in later use. They are free to Work toward each other at one side of the rim so as to narrow or eliminate the spacing at that end and at the same time cause a wider space to be left between insert ends at the opposite side of the rim, leaving a, relatively free flexible rim portion throughout a .considerable distance on the rim at the latter side thereof. The inserts at one side of the rim may come into contact with one another, while at the other side of the rim they will y be spaced widely apart.

It is accordingly the object of the present invention to provide a rim constructionfor pessaries of this type wherein the wire inserts will be maintained within the margin in a desired spaced relation to one another.

In one form of this invention, a piece of resilient material is disposed in the spaces between the ends of the wire inserts during the construction of the rim so that axial movement of the wire inserts through the spring is positively prevented. In other forms of the invention the wire inserts are rigidly secured to the spring at points close to the ends of the inserts, as by welding, soldering, adhesives, rubber or similar cements, or

by forcing rubber or other suitable material under the coils of the spring during the molding of the material to the springs so that the material will be in place to adhere to the insert.

For other objects and a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the pessary in its folded state and embodying features of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a front face view of the pessary with a portion broken away to show in full.r lines the spring and one oi.' the wire inserts; l

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the pessary;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary View, in section, of that portion of the pessary ring adjacent to the ends of the wire inserts and illustrating one form of the invention;

Fig. 5 is a similar fragmentary and sectional view as shown in Fig. 4 illustrating another form of the invention;

Fig. 6 is also a similar view as shown in Fig. 4 illustrating` still another form of the invention; and

Fig. '7 is also a similar view as shown in Fig. 4

illustrating still another form of the invention.

Referring` now particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and`3, there is shown a pessary I0 including a membrane I I of rubber or other suitable flexible impermeable substance and a marginal rim portion I2. This rim portion I2 may be of any desired shape such as that of a circle or that of an ellipse. This rim portion I2 includes-a spring ring I3 and a pair of wire inserts I4 and I5 spaced apart at their ends, as shown at I6 and I1 so that the same may be folded in half and assume a shape such as shown in Fig. 1 so that the patient may easily apply the same. The spring and wire inserts are covered with a flexible impermeable facing I8 provided by a vulcanizing or molding operation. y

According to the form of theV invention shown in Figs. 2 and 4 there is provided in each of the.

spaces I6 and I1, a flexible block I9, metal spring, or other resilient or flexible means so that any slippage of the wire inserts I'4 and I5 within the spring ring I3 at the time of manufacture or at a later time is prevented.

The parts in the spring thus consist of a wire insert, a piece of exible material, another wire insert and another piece of flexible material, all substantially in contact within one another. These inserts and pieces are put inthe spring in alternate order before the ends of the spring 2 have been joined. Thereafter the spring ends are joined by any of the well known procedures.

It will be noted that the resilient or exlble means provided to prevent slippage of the wire inserts I4 and I5 within the spring ring I3 are shown-positioned at any two points within the spring ring away from the point at which the ends are joined together. `The joining of the ends will affect the flexibility of the spring I3 and if the resilient or flexible means is not positioned away from the joined ends, the two portions of the spring ring at which bending is localized will be of unequal flexibilities. The pessary may be finally formed by rolling the spring into a piece of sheet rubber, and then vulcanizing the same, all in the manner 3 described in the Hay Patent 2,161,255 or in any other suitable manner.

Referring now to Fig. 5 there is' shown a construction for preventing axial movement of the wire inserts within the spring in which instead of providing pieces of resilient material between the ends, the wire inserts are secured to the spring through the action of the fiexiblematerial which will be molded about the spring and between the inserts and the spring in such a manner that it will connect the wire inserts with the spring, as indicated at 2|. This is done by providing rubber, for example between the spring and the wire inserts prior to the vulcanizing operation. The wire inserts will thus be xed to the spring particularly adjacent their ends and will be prevented from sliding axially in the spring and closing up the spaces i6 and i1 between adjacent ends.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 6 there is sh'own a construction in which several wire spring coils adjacent the ends of the wire inserts are welded, soldered or cemented as indicated at 22 to the wire inserts leaving spaces I6 and il. This will positivelyprevent slippage of the wire inserts within the spring.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 7, th'ere is shown my preferred form of the invention which operates like the construction shown in Fig. 4 but where a small coil spring Isa is used instead of the rubber block I9. The convolutions of the spring 19a will be compressed when the ends of the wire inserts I4, I5 approach' each other, As

`the small spring finally becomes solid, movement cf the wire inserts is positively prevented. The arrangement is assembled in the same manner as is the arrangement of Fig, 4. Inserts andspring I9a are put into the spring ring i3 in alternate order and then the ends of the spring ring are fastened together.

It should now be apparent that there has been provided a pessary construction wherein slippage of the wire inserts to close the spaces between the ends of the wire inserts is positively prevented.

I have described what I-believe to be the best embodiments of myl invention. I do not wish, however, to be confined to the embodiments shown, but what I desire to cover by' Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An occlusive vaginal diaphragm comprising a flexible impermeable membrane and a ilexible impermeable rim for the membrane, said rim having a spring ring, wire inserts in the ring with their ends spaced from each other at the opposite sides of the spring ring, and a pair ofr spacing members of resilient material disposed in the spring ring and independent thereof between the spaced ends of the inserts whereby the spacing between the insert ends is maintained and their axial displacement within the spring is prevented.

2. An occlusive vaginal diaphragm as dened in claim 1 in which said spacing members of resilient material comprise separate independent coil springs.

3. An occlusive vaginal diaphragm comprising a flexible impermeable membrane and a exible impermeable rim for th'e membrane, said rim having a spring ring, wire inserts in the ring with their ends spaced from each other at the opposite sides of the spring ring and means iixedly securing each of the wire inserts to the spring coils whereby axial displacement of the 4 wire inserts within the spring ring is prevented and the spacing between their ends is preserved.

4. An occlusive vaginal diaphragm as defined.

in claim 3 in which the securing means comprises flexible impermeable material molded or vulcanized to and between the wire inserts and the spring ring. y

5. An occlusive vaginal diaphragm as defined in claim 3 in which the securing means com-` prises welding or soldering material connecting the wire inserts and coils of th'e spring ring.

6. A pessary comprising a plurality of reinforcing wires, said wires being curved and positioned substantially end to end to form a ring. a spring adapted to maintain the ends of said wires in spaced relationship and adjacent to substantially equally resilient portions of said helix.

7. A pessary comprising a plurality of reinforcing wires rigid in construction but adapted to be bent manually into any desired shape, said wires being curved and positioned substantially end to endfto form a ring, a spring wire h'elix surrounding said wires having its ends joined together to constitute therewith a ring structure adapted to be manually folded between the ends of adjacent wires and separate positioning means disposed at a distance from said joined ends cooperating with said Wires and said helix adapted to maintainthe ends of said wires in spaced relationship and adjacent to substantially equally resilient portions of said helix.

8. In a pessary, a plurality of cores, an endless helical spring forming a ring in which said cores are located, spaces being maintained between th'e ends of adjacent cores in said spring adapted to localize separate resilient folding re` gions for the pessary, resilient means situated within the helical spring independently thereof intermediate the adjacent ends of said cores adapted to maintain the spacing between said ends, and a flexible impermeable coating surrounding said ring.

9. In a pessary, a plurality of rigid manually pliable cores, an endless helical spring forming a ring in which said cores are located, spaces being maintained between the ends of adjacent cores in said spring adapted to localize resilient folding regions for the pessary, independent resilient means situated within th'e helical spring intermediate the adjacent ends of the said cores, adapted to maintain the spacing between said ends, and a exible impermeable coating surrounding said ring.

10. In a pessary, a plurality of cores, an endless helical spring forming a ring in which said cores are located, flexible spacing means intermediate the ends of adjacent cores in said spring adapted to localize resilient folding regions for the pessary, a flexible impermeable coating surrounding said ring and a web portion also of flexible impermeable material extending over the interior area of the ring.

11. In a pessary, a plurality of rigid manually pliable cores, an endless helical spring forming a ring` in which' said cores are located. flexible spacing means intermediate the ends of adjacent cores in said spring adapted to localize resilient folding regions for the pessary. a flexible impermeable coating surrounding said -ring and a web portion also of iiexible impermeable material extending over the interior area of the ring.

12. A pessary comprising a pair of core segments, helical spring means for resiliently connecting said core segments to provide bending zones between the ends of said cores whereby said pessary is adapted to be folded for easy insertion and means rigidly securing a point on each core to an adjacent point on said spring means for maintaining the spacing between the ends of said cores.

13. A pessary comprising a pair of core segments, each core segment being of rigid but manually pliable material so that said pessary is 6 tially end to end to form a ring, a spring wire helix surrounding said wires to constitute therewith a ring structure adapted to be manually folded between the ends of adjacent wires, means for maintaining the spacing between said ends, a

flexible impermeable coating for said ring and a iexible impermeable web portion extending over the interior area of the ring.

THOMAS YOUNG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 21,342 Clark Feb. 6, 1940 1,949,863 Hay Mar. 6, 1934 2,101,255 Hay Dec. 7, 1937 2,123,148 Findley July 5, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS Y Number Country Date Australia 4--- Nov. 9, 1942 

